Eight Lectures on India

by Halford John Mackinder

|31.
Chand Pol Gate, Jaipur.| |32.
A Street in Jaipur.| |33.
Chand Pol Bazaar, Jaipur.| |34.
A Wool Cart, Jaipur.| Next we visit Jaipur, a walled city surrounded by rocky hills crowned with forts, the capital and residence of the Maharaja of Jaipur State, the best governed of all the Rajput States. This is one of the entrance gates, and through the archway may be seen the crenellated wall of the city, with thatched huts built against it. Here is a street within the city, with a fort-crowned rock visible at the end of it, and here is the Bazaar. Jaipur has a modern aspect, for it is a busy and prosperous commercial centre. Here is a wool cart in the city. The streets are broad—perhaps the broadest in the world—and cross one another at right angles, and at night are well lighted with gas.

|35.
The Samrat Yantra, Jaipur Observatory.| One of the most interesting of the old Indian observatories, with great stone instruments, even larger than those of Benares, is in this city. It was constructed at the beginning of the 18th century, and has recently been restored by the progressive Maharaja. This is the great Samrat Yantra, or sundial, the largest in the world. The gnomon is 75 feet in height. Notice how small in comparison is the keeper of the observatory, who may be seen standing just outside the line of the shadow on the circumference of the dial. In the distance, above some dwelling houses, is visible the clock-tower of the Maharaja’s palace, the time of which is regulated by this sundial.

|36.
The Palace Gardens, Jaipur—Crocodiles.| |37.
The Same, Tomb of a pet dog.| |38.
Flamingoes at Jaipur.| |39.
Sita Ranji Temple, Jaipur.| The palace stands amid beautiful gardens. We have here a tank in these gardens showing the Maharaja’s crocodiles, and here is the tomb among the trees of one of the late Maharaja’s pet dogs. Outside the city walls are fine public gardens, covering some forty acres, containing an aviary and menagerie. Here is a group of flamingoes, caught in the neighbourhood. Finally, we have one of the temples in the city, built of red sandstone and finely carved.

|40.
The Lake and Palace, Amber.| |41.
Shish Mahal, Amber.| |42.
The Palace, Alwar.| |43.
The Same from above.| A few miles from Jaipur is Amber, the ancient capital of Jaipur State, but now abandoned and in ruins. Here we have a view of the old Palace and the Lake, and here one of the many fine buildings, the Shish Mahal. Next we see the Palace at Alwar, a comparatively modern city, the present capital of the State of Alwar, and then we have a view over the palace looking down from the hill above.

|44.
City Gate, Bikaner.| |45.
Jain Temple, Bhandashar, Bikaner.| |46.
Bikaner from the Jain Temple.| |47.
Street in Bikaner.| |48.
Grain Sellers, Bikaner.| |49.
Bikaner Fort.| Now we visit Bikaner, in an oasis of the northwestern desert. This is the city gate, with a level railway crossing in front. Notice the camel waiting for the passing of the train, and the water-carriers. Here of course water is a valuable commodity. The district of which Bikaner is the centre suffers frequently from famine owing to drought. Then we have a Jain temple crowning a rocky mound, and from the terrace of this temple we obtain a view over the city, with its flat roofs and desert spaces. There follows a view in one of the narrow streets, showing the carved front of a house belonging to one of the richer Jains of the city. Finally we have a typical group of grain sellers in front of the Customs House, and a view of the Fort.

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H.H. The Raja of Nabha and his ministers.| |51.
H.H. The Raja of Nabha.| |52.
The Palace of the Crown Prince of Nabha.| |53.
Sirdar Fateh Singh.| |54.
Sikhs at Nabha.| |55.
An Akali at Nabha.| |56.
The Chief Justice of Nabha.| |57.
Sirdar Bisham Singh.| On our way northeastward we will next visit the city of Nabha, though it is the centre of a Sikh and not of a Rajput State. Here is the Raja of Nabha surrounded by his Council of Ministers, and here his portrait. Then we have in the distance the palace of the Crown Prince of Nabha, seen from the roof of Elgin House, the home of the British Resident. Next there follow a series of portraits. The first is of a young princeling. The second is of a group of Sikhs; in front is a priest, and to the right, in black, an Akali, or warrior-monk. There follows another slide showing one of these Akalis in ancient fighting costume. Then we have, by way of contrast, the very up to date Chief Justice of Nabha, but notice in the background sentry duty economically performed by a pasteboard soldier! Here is a typical Sikh face, that of the Vakil to the Political Agent at the British Residency.

|Repeat Map No. 2.| Finally, we will cross the Chambal river and, leaving Rajputana, will enter Central India, and visit the two cities of Gwalior and Indore, the capitals of the Maratha Princes Sindhia and Holkar. Gwalior lies a little south of Delhi and Agra. The city is dominated by an isolated rock fort, flat-topped and steep-sided, more than three hundred feet in height. There is but a single road up, and along this road are six successive gates, arranged as at the fort of Chitor in Rajputana. Sindhia captured Gwalior rather more than a hundred years ago. When the Indian Mutiny broke out his people, being of Hindi race, of the same kin therefore as the people of Agra and Oudh, revolted and joined the mutineers, but Sindhia and his Maratha officers remained loyal and escaped to British protection.

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The Fort, Gwalior.| Gwalior was the scene of the last episodes in the Indian Mutiny. Driven from Delhi and from around Cawnpore and Lucknow, the mutineers marched in 1858 against Sindhia, who met them in battle, but was defeated. Then General Sir Hugh Rose followed them up in what is known as the Central Indian campaign, and defeated them at Gwalior. The fort of Gwalior itself was taken by a remarkable feat of daring. Two British subalterns with a blacksmith and an outpost force picked the locks of the first five gateways up the road entry before they were discovered. They stormed the last gate, one of them being killed. So Gwalior Fort was taken, and for a generation was garrisoned by British troops, but about twenty years ago it was restored to the Maharaja Sindhia.

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Holkar’s Palace, Indore.| Indore lies in the land of Malwa, a considerable distance south of Gwalior and on high ground about the sources of the Chambal river. The Governor-General’s Agent for Central India has his residence here by treaty, and close at hand is now the army cantonment of Mhow. At the time of the Mutiny some of Holkar’s infantry attacked the Residency, and as the Resident, Sir Henry Durand, had only twenty men to defend it, he was compelled to retreat with some women and children. But it was soon recovered and nothing very serious ensued in this part of India.

The Rajputana Agency is as large as the whole British Isles, but it contains only about ten million people, since a great part of it is desert. The Central Indian Agency is about as large as England and Scotland without Wales. It has a population only a little smaller than that of Rajputana. We may measure the significance of the more important chiefs in these two Agencies by the fact that Sindhia rules a country little less, either in area or population, than the Kingdom of Scotland.